Petals & Roots is a weekly video series fronted by me, Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens at Homes & Gardens. Every Sunday on social, I share my seasonal gardening and flower arranging expertise and advice.
There are more than 40 different species of dahlia grown across the world, and within that a colossal 57,000 cultivated varieties. That is an enormous range of shapes, colors and sizes. And all of them are utterly beautiful.
They range from huge dinner plate dahlia blooms, to miniature pompom flowers, with a staggering symmetry and perfection not even the world’s best mathematicians could emulate. They are, in my opinion, proof that Mother Nature is the greatest artist.
Naturally, these epic and diverse flowers deserve to be enjoyed in our homes in the most elegant of ways, which is why I wanted to create this demonstration for Petals & Roots, to show you how to achieve a show-stopping look for your flower arrangements.
What you need
- A footed bowl or pedestal vessel, such as this one from McGee & Co
- A floral frog (also known as a pin frog or kenzan), available from Amazon
- Floral tack or clay, just like this from Amazon
- Floristry scissors; these ones from Amazon are very similar to the ones I use
- A stunning selection of dahlias in a variety of colors and shapes
Step one: Prepare your vessel
The first step to creating this design is to fix your sustainable mechanics in place; in this case – a flower frog.
In every design I create, I always try to select eco-friendly, reusable or compostable materials, and a kenzan or flower frog is a perfect example of this.
It is a non-toxic floral foam alternative, made up of vertical pins that naturally hold your flower stems in place, and can be washed and re-used time and again.
The one I used was weighted, but to make it extra secure, apply sticky floral tack (also known as floral clay) to the base of the flower frog, then press down firmly and twist at the same time to fix it in place.
Once secured, you can add fresh water and begin arranging.
Step two: Add your dahlias
Despite being hollow, dahlia stems are pretty robust and will hold up very well in an arrangement like this.
With this kind of design, we want each and every dahlia bloom to have space to shine, so the way I usually start is by taking a medium-sized bloom (the one I start with in this video is known as a ball dahlia) and place this fairly centrally.
Next, take a much larger dahlia, such as a waterlily or even a dinner plate variety, and position this towards the front on a diagonal, so that the stem is coming forwards. This will balance the design and make sure there is a clear focal point to it.
Then build around this, placing the smaller pompom dahlias to the front, or very high up, and the larger dahlias to the sides and the back. The cactus and frilly collarette dahlias look fantastic when placed centrally and coming forwards on the diagonal (rather than straight upwards).
Keep checking the design to make sure it looks balanced and be sure to add stems to the back, so that it doesn't appear flat from the front. Keep on adding until you are happy, or you may have to stop when your pin frog is completely full of stems.
If you want to move some of the flowers around, simply hold the stem firmly towards the base and pull. Give the end a fresh cut before replacing back onto the flower frog in its new position.
Top tip: My most favored piece of kit when creating this kind of arrangement is my wooden lazy Susan, which I painted pink. You can see it in the video. It makes moving the design around and looking at it from all angles effortless. You can find a very similar bamboo lazy Susan from Amazon.
A ceramic footed vase gives instant elegance to a floral design, and this one would work for a modern interior aesthetic. It also has stunning ornamental value even without any flowers.
I absolutely love this wide, earthy footed bowl from Anthropologie for its rustic yet expensive appeal. Plus, it would look just as good filled with seasonal fruit or a trailing houseplant.
This marble pedestal bowl is such a find! It is shallow, which might mean the pin frog is visible, and you can make it part of the design itself, especially if you wanted to create something super contemporary.
Once completed, all you need to do is keep the water topped up, as these stems will drink a lot. Then simply enjoy their impossible beauty and forms.
You can use a pin frog to recreate this style of design so easily with lots of other seasonal flowers and foliage, and in any kind of vessel or vase you choose.
They are so versatile and easy to work with, and despite looking small, they can hold a large number of stems.
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